Musings and sharings on my devotion to an ancient religion.

Category archive: Saint Aloysius Blogs

This is a reprint of a blog I did two years ago for St. Aloysius Parish.

Just in time for Mother’s Day, a young woman who works for an abortion clinic has released a video of her own abortion procedure to show “a positive abortion experience” for women who are considering one. Her intent is to, “share my story and inspire other women to stop the guilt.” (See the full article from News 12 NJ here). While (even though I am an Italian, Catholic mother) I do not support people living their lives bound by guilt, I do believe that guilt is a very useful tool for knowing when you’ve done something wrong—not a sensation to be avoided so that you don’t have to acknowledge your sin. The video shows the young woman having an abortion with no sensibility of the magnitude of her action. She does not even make reference to the fact that she has just coldly and deliberately ended a life. She says that she feels, “in awe of the fact that she can make a baby.” How strange that she can separate the fact that she “made a baby” but admittedly has no remorse or sadness about killing the child.

The true horror in this is the complete lack of value our society places on human life—particularly helpless, defenseless life. It is deeply offensive on a natural level—our most basic biological instinct is to protect our young. It is devastating to those who would have children but are unable. It offends the attachment that every woman who has carried a child and loved that child before it was ever born experiences. To nurture life, to elevate the dignity of others, to encourage and protect—this is what we are made for. But, this woman is on a campaign to assist women in deviating from their nature and forgetting who they are and who they are meant to be. (The Catholic Church has a program to help women who have terminated a pregnancy to know God’s forgiveness and to seek wholeness again called Project Rachel.)

In direct contrast to this, a group decided to create a “fake job” and held actual interview for it. The requirements were things like: 24-7 work hours, no vacations, no holidays, no sleep, etc. The job was Motherhood. When it was revealed to the applicants their rouse, they expressed a deep appreciation for their mothers. It shed light on the sacrifice that mothers make every day, but with such tenderness and dignity. It’s not guilt based—because it shouldn’t be—but it expresses the deep committed love that mothers have for their children…no matter what. Even when they are teenagers (Thanks for letting me live, Mom).

Motherhood is a terrible, wonderful, confusing, delightful, exhausting, joyful vocation. It is not for the faint of heart, but it strengthens hearts. It’s not to be taken lightly or for granted. It is one of the most perfect expressions of how God loves us that there is. To all mothers, and all who would be; God has given us a great gift—the gift of valuing human life like God does—unconditional, unending love. Let us be a force in the world to share that gift and to lovingly help others to share it, too.

The other day, while chatting with my family, the topic of politics came up. Yeah, yeah—you’re never supposed to talk about politics or religion, but God knows it’s impossible to avoid either of those topics in my house! We spoke of our disgust for our current political state—how there is no party that represents our beliefs and values consistently, and our need for GOOD politicians. My mother said, “Maybe when Ben grows up, he could get into politics. He’d be a good politician.” “Not my son!” I snapped back. The thought of my son being in the midst of that element was too much for me. Ben asked why and I said, “Ben, I would support and be proud of you in almost any line of work that you feel God calls you to. Almost. Not a drug dealer, or gigolo, or politician, or anything like that.” And then, in a clearer moment, I got to thinking…how selfish is that? Not the drug dealer or gigolo thing; but my not wanting him to be a politician. If that’s where God calls him, I have to be okay with it and pray that he would be a good one.

Science Fiction has been warning us for years—apparently, people need to be watching more TV and movies—because we are missing the message. As humanity progresses (and Idolove the progress and tech that is being developed), we are becoming more isolated and out of touch with one another. Our society is at an all time low as far as human relationships go. Now, you’re probably saying, “Duh, Jen, who doesn’t know that?” But, did you know that in Japan (crazy Japan…) you can book a dream wedding for one? It’s aimed at girls who can’t seem to find a husband but still want to have the wedding experience. It pretends to build up the poor, young ladies’ self-esteem. Nothing says, “You’re special” like pretending to get married with a fake groom that you’ve never met. And if that doesn’t do it for you, Japan is working on some serious humanoid robots to keep you company. I mean, if you’re having a fake wedding, you’ve pretty much given up, anyway, right?

I think everyone has an understanding of what to “know” in the Biblical sense means. In case you don’t, it means having sex. I didn’t understand why as a kid—I remember hearing, “He ‘knows’ her…in the Biblical sense” and (being a small genius) figuring out what it meant from the context of what the adults were saying. But, I wondered why the word “know” had anything to do with it.

So, now that I’m married and somewhat grown up, it makes sense to me. Sex (ideally) is the full physical expression of a deep, intimate relationship where two people perfectly and unbreakably committed to one another through the bond of marriage share everything they have—their whole selves. One of the major images of God’s relationship with His people in the Hebrew Scriptures is that of a marrital relationship, in part because of the intimate knowledge that God wants to share with us. It carries over to our Christian tradition in our calling the Church “the bride of Christ.”

Whatever your feelings about The Daily Show (I happen to love it); there was a segment on last night that everyone should see. There was a report called “The Homeless Homed” that showed how Salt Lake City is dealing with homelessness. Please watch the segment in this post (be warned—the interviewer does say “What the hell…” No bad language besides that). Our Catholic Church, taken directly from the teachings of Jesus, makes it clear that we cannot ignore the poor. We cannot throw people away because they are too expensive or inconvenient. Our job is to protect people in all stages of life; whatever their personal circumstances.

I like Loki better than Thor. So, what? This blog is about our tendency to ignore the opportunities God gives us to fulfill our vocations, and the excuses we make to avoid becoming what God made us for. All of us have backstories that we could use as an excuse to become a supervillain. Don’t be a supervillain.

This one is about sex and intimacy. And steak. Because, why bother with the other two if there’s no steak? This blog takes a look at the difference between sex and intimacy, the sort of false intimacy that is projected onto a relationship when sex is used improperly within it and the harm that can be done as a result of it.

This is one of my recent blogs from the Saint Aloysius website. It’s about the Feast of the Holy Family, and how good God is about modeling family for us through families God used for His glory in the Bible. The stories don’t depict what we would call “traditional” families; but blended, adopted, late-in-life and surprise families. It also discusses our frailty as we seek to live as holy families, and how Jesus assumed that frailty into Himself.